Also being idiots.
CC
In other news; Governor Sanford missing again.
At least they’re alive .... sounds like it was a close call. I had a friend who was backing, got caught in a snow storm, became lost, and died. I’m sure he would have gladly paid the cost of a rescue had he survived.
My brothers and I once woke up to heavy unexpected snow at the Mt. LeConte shelter (close to the AT, at about 6200 ft). We bailed at once, taking the Alum Cave trail down to the road. I hitchhiked back up to the parking lot at Newfound Gap to retrieve my car, in about 6 inches of new snow (still coming down heavily when I left the parking lot). Good thing the road was still open, or we’d have been in trouble. It was absolutely the right call.
I hiked 775 miles of the Pacific Crest Trail in 2012, starting at the southern border. In 2013, I reached Sonora Pass, at mile 1,018, having started once again at the southern border.
Several hikers were caught in a heavy snowstorm this year, in northern Washington, near the end of the hiking season, prompting rescue of one sort or another. Trust me- many of the seasoned hikers that populate hiker forums have some very strong opinions on hikers getting caught in the wild and then needing rescue. We hikers, and I include myself, even though politically I am deep undercover, expect all hikers to be responsible their actions or decisions. Yeah, it’s a bit of a conundrum how some of the radicals can isolate their behavior in one instance and be completely oblivious in another. Tis what it is. I hike none the less.
Counterespionage is quite exhilarating, I might add. Having said that, one can run down the list of injuries that are self inflicted by numbskulls of all pursuits that are guilty of pursuing (by default) the not so coveted Darwin award by their risky behavior. Example: The costs to treat a skydiver, motorcycle rider, hunter, snow-mobiler, boxer, gymnast, dog owner, ladder user, rock climber, race car driver, surfer, spelunker, airplane pilot, scuba diver, rodeo rider, etc.
However, there are egregious actions or decisions that drive the public’s interests and opinions.
Hikers are an easy target because it’s an activity that is docile and the decision to do it is a slow motion / long term event, unlike sports and recreational activities that occur over seconds or minutes. THAT really is what separates hikers from all of the other activities that can result in injury or death. PILE ON!
Rescues involving helos. run about $25,000 a pop. Our military considers the rescue effort to be of a training nature. The actual rescuers long for the calls to come in, prompting the rescues. I was a volunteer firefighter, and in the military, so I know what I speaketh. I worked downrange in Iraq and Afghanistan, as a civilian contractor, and wished with all of my might, to go outside the wire. Yes, there is a cost, and yes, people need to use their heads. How about the idiot that puts his hand inside the body of a lawn mower while it is running? Why shouldn’t this yokel receive the bill in it’s entirety? Same with a dog bite. Yes! Charge them with the cost of the rescue in some way commiserate with other acts of poor judgment. Of course this strikes at the core of liberalism because it’s rare that the individual is responsible for their own actions.
I wonder whether they were global warming alarmists.
People think the southern Appalachians have mild winters like the surrounding areas, then go up utterly unprepared quite frequently. You’d be shocked at the annual snowfall totals atop some of the higher peaks, Alpine plant species grow up there.
Let’s go for a hike in a snow storm....................
DUUUUGH....
Got to be prepared for freak weather any time of year hiking in the Smokies. On a hike from Deep Creek in the Smokies up to Clingman’s Dome some 20 years ago, in the middle of August, I got caught in a freak thunderstorm that came out of nowhere. Forecast for the day had been clear with 0% of precip, temps at 6K elevation 68 degrees.
We were maybe a mile down from the summit and the storm blew in, hail, 50 mph winds and the temp dropped 30 degrees in 30 minutes. Soaking wet, crawling through laurel tunnels, it was bone chilling cold. Could have gotten ugly if it happened close to sundown.